Matic Ridley

Blade Captain Matic Ridley was the only known named hobgoblin to survive the War of the Deeps. He was the dulkurio-ma (or Servant Who Thinks) to the Tsol'teth Overlord Agith'maal.

He was promoted to Sa-dulkurio-ma (Greatest Thinking Servant) when his brother was slain by the Tsol'teth Overlord. Agith'maal had killed him because the hobgoblin had seen him afraid. From then on, Matic's duty was to write down what his Tsol'teth masters said and attend to the smaller matters that were beneath them. During preparations for the Tsol'teth invasion, it was also his duty to help Terrin'ukia teach the other monsters about Tezlari-tarin, the World of Light that is Sapience. From his time with his masters, he learned much about Sapience, Seleucar, and how to speak Achaean.

Because of Matic's rank, only he was spared from the fate that befell his fellow goblinoids, for his kind was harmed by the above world's light of the sun. The Tsol'teth worked magics on him so that he might survive the harsh rays, but such magics required resources that were not in great quantity. As an alternative, his masters slew his brethren and extracted from their spiral ribbons of future creation and altered them so that they might become more powerful and capable of withstanding the bright lights of the world above. Matic was tasked with leading them to their deaths so that this could be accomplished, and he was filled with great bitterness over it.

The process of altering and training the monsters took about a century to complete. During this time, Matic's resolve to betray his masters hardened, as he realised their madness and how their only intent was total destruction. Save for himself, his race had been completely annihilated; it was supplanted by one interested only in eating, slaughter and fornication. Perceiving them to be weaknesses, the Tsol'teth masters had destroyed all that was good within the goblinoid races.

The War of the Deeps could not have been won had it not been for Matic's betrayal of the Tsol'teth invaders, when he ripped off the cloak of darkness that protected Agith'maal from the harmful rays of the sun and stabbed him in the back. Rescued by the Seleucarian defenders, he then revealed to Warleader Lockwood the secret to slaying the Tsol'teth - removing their hearts.

Matic Ridley's critical feat is memorialised in legend as the Matic card in the deck of legends and in the arena game Balance of Power.